Apple is preparing an all-new MacBook Air for 2015 with a radically new design that jettisons standards such as full-sized USB ports, MagSafe connectors, and SD card slots in favor of a markedly thinner and lighter body with a higher-resolution display. Sources within Apple, who have used internal prototype versions of the upcoming computer, have provided in-depth details about the machine, and our exclusive artist renditions of the revamped MacBook Air provide the first close look at Apple’s first major step in mobile Mac computing since the Retina MacBook Pro launch in 2012.

iPad Air 2

The 12-inch MacBook Air will be considerably smaller than the current 13-inch version, yet also slightly narrower than the 11-inch model. The new 12-inch version is approximately a quarter-of-an-inch narrower than the 11-inch version, yet it is also a quarter-of-an-inch taller in order to accommodate the slightly larger display. In order to fit the larger screen into a footprint about the size of the current 11-inch model, the bezels on the display have been reduced on all sides.

Besides a new look for the front of the computer, the entire unibody has been revamped from the keyboard to the trackpad to the speakers. Taking cues from the 12-inch PowerBook introduced by Steve Jobs over a decade ago, the new keyboard sits edge-to-edge across the width of the laptop. In addition to going edge-to-edge, the entire key set has been subtly redesigned so that each key sits noticeably closer together. Apple has squeezed the keys closer in order for the computer to be as narrow as possible, which can be seen in the rendition below:

Apple has also relocated some of the function keys across the top and simplified the arrow key array in order to keep the keyboard as narrow as possible without taking away from overall usability. In addition to the keyboard, the trackpad has been changed. The trackpad is approximately the same width as that on the 11-inch MacBook Air (if not ever-so-slightly wider), but it is apparently slightly taller, nearly touching the bottoms of the keyboard and the frame. In line with earlier rumors, it also appears that the new trackpad does not have the same clicking effect as found on current and earlier MacBook models.

The elimination of physical feedback in the click is part of Apple’s plan to reduce the thickness of the MacBook to a bare minimum. As can be seen in 9to5Mac artist Michael Steeber‘s rendition above, the new 12-inch Air (on the left) is far thinner than the current 11-inch model (on the right). Taking cues from the current Air, the future model has a teardrop-like, tapered design that gets thinner from top to bottom. Above the keyboard are four redesigned speaker grills that actually double as ventilation holes for the fan-less device to keep cool.

The upcoming laptop is so thin that Apple employees are said to refer to the device as the “MacBook Stealth” internally. In order to reach that new level of portability, Apple not only slimmed down the trackpad and tweaked the speakers but the ports as well:

The upcoming 12-inch Air has the fewest amount of ports ever on an Apple computer, as can be seen in the rendition above. On the right side is a standard headphone jack and dual-microphones for input and noise-canceling. On the left side is solely the new USB Type-C port. Yes, Apple is currently planning to ditch standard USB ports, the SD Card slot, and even its Thunderbolt and MagSafe charging standards on this new notebook. We must note that Apple tests several designs of upcoming products, so Apple may choose to ultimately release a new Air that does include the legacy components, though there is very little space on the edges for them.

As we’ve reported on multiple occasions, the new USB Type-C connector is smaller, faster, and more capable than the standard USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports on existing computers. The connector is able to replace the Thunderbolt Display port on the current Apple laptops as USB Type-C actually has the technology to drive displays. Additionally, the latest specifications from the USB foundation indicate that USB Type-C can actually be used to power computers, which makes the standard MagSafe plugs unnecessary on this new device. The connector is also reversible like Lightning on iPads and iPhones, which should make the overall experience a bit more intuitive.

As the new MacBook may only have a single port, it would make sense for Apple to create a hub of some sort for users to be able to plug in multiple devices into the new laptop. Apple already ships all sorts of adapters for its Macs and iOS Devices, so adding yet another attachment to the accessory portfolio would not be unprecedented. With Apple moving to a new “Space Gray” color on its iOS devices and on some Macs (such as with the 2013 Mac Pro), it seems possible that this new MacBook may come in a new gray color, as shown off in some of our renditions.

Even if the USB ports were at the laptop end of the cable (largely useless at the power brick) – what if you unplug your laptop? You then have to replug USB items back in individual or use a separate hub.

Way too messy.

I predict 2-3 TypeC ports. Not one wants to rely on a hub they will inevitably forget to take with them or lose.

PSU could connect to the MBA via 802.11ac. Solves the problem of disconnects, and allows you to leave devices plugged in whilst you wander around. It’s still not ideal (can’t take the device with you and connect externals) but it’d make for a reasonable solution.

I think they’re going for a daisy-chain solution, meaning that the charger will have on the plug itself another USB port available.

At any case, the narrower keyboard seems bad, the 12 inches seem worse, I would have gone and upped the ppi on the current form-factor.

And if they can save on the frame of the display, why not have a 14-inch with the same dimensions of the current 13-inch?

My guess is that their ‘air’ line is eating away too much clientele from the ‘pro’ line of products, and if that’s the case, having marketers make such big decisions makes Apple more economy-driven rather than tech-driven (I mean, even more so). I hope they don’t forget that the bigger part of mac-buyers are techies.

The problem with ditching older ports is that some people still have peripherals for them. Maybe a backup hard drive… okay, with port-c it would be faster, but still, you would need to buy a new one. Also, some people have their laptops connected at their desktops to a keyboard, mouse and display. Mouse and keyboard could be wireless, but not display.

I think that a minority of people would still like the standard USB and display plugs, but I still that they are still usefull.

rzozaya1969 says:
January 7, 2015 at 2:27 pm
The problem with ditching older ports is that some people still have peripherals for them. Maybe a backup hard drive… okay, with port-c it would be faster, but still, you would need to buy a new one. Also, some people have their laptops connected at their desktops to a keyboard, mouse and display. Mouse and keyboard could be wireless, but not display.

I think that a minority of people would still like the standard USB and display plugs, but I still that they are still usefull.”

rzozaya, USB 3.1 is backwards-compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0, so you would only loose compatibility with USB 1.0, i.e. only with VERY ancient devices …

E.g. your backup hard drive is almost guaranteed to be at least USB 2.0

99% hate from me on this. I’m currently using a Thunderbolt RAID array with my MBA, which is my sole computer. I vastly prefer Thunderbolt over USB. If they’re going this way with the MBP (which I jettisoned in favor of the MBA in 2013), then I may have to (gulp) switch to Windows. I’ve never owned a Windows machine before, and as a former Apple engineer, that pains me to even think about.

@Deirdre I would suggest trying again. I use all three OS’s regularly and trust me, you DON’T want Windows. It’s not worth the headaches. The list of completely asinine bugs is overwhelming (for example, Windows still pings all your network printers when you right-click on the desktop, for reasons I’ve never seen explained. If any of those printers happen to be unavailable, you’re looking at a 30-second delay for each one before the desktop’s context menu will even appear).

It’s a textbook definition of death by a thousand cuts (and sometimes a few stabs to the gut too).

@Daniel – “Windows pings all your network computers when you right-click the desktop”….. Uhhh what? Just no. That’s completely ridiculous and innaccurate. I’ve heard a lot of ridiculous things said about Windows by Apple fanboys, but this one surely takes the cake.

So someone who posts an informed opinion, gives good reasons and a balanced perspective as to why they feel this way, states certain credentials, and you call them a troll? How old are you… 12? I believe the only one trolling here, based on this comment and others on this page, is you. Grow up.

You can’t see why this person is obviously trolling. Open your eyes bra.

foljs - 3 years ago

“””srsly? A Thunderbolt RAID array on a MacBook Air. You can’t see why this person is obviously trolling. Open your eyes bra.”””

What exactly is strange about a “Thunderbolt RAID array on a MacBook Air”? There are tons of RAID array enclosures for MacBook Air, both for USB3 and Thunderbolt.

And I know lots of people who have one (or a similar technology like the Drobo).

If you’re a photographer or edit video on the road/set (and even heavy duty video professionals like Philip Bloom prefer the lighter Air than the Pro’s when working outside the office), a RAID array is pretty much standard, and Thunderbolt is quite common.

The single port is a welcome advance. With my current MBA I have at least 3 cables to plug and unplug every time I leave or return to my desk (power, thunderbolt, USB). With USB C I will have only a single connection to make – using a power adapter/hub left at my desk, which presumably is the scenario that is being proposed. Almost like the old-school laptop dock. Mouse and keyboard are bluetooth, no connection required there. And when I’m on the sofa or in bad I don’t need any wired connections (or mage just the charger) – and/or if I’m projecting on my TV I use AirPlay to do it wirelessly. Very well thought out features all working together.

I use a SP3 for work (the high-end model). Unless you’re coming from an older MBP, or you had the base model 13″, I can’t see how you could be satisfied with it. The SP3, even with the i7 and 8GB of RAM, is painfully slow for anything but the simplest of tasks. The 2014 MBA it replaced was similarly sluggish for my uses.

I actually carry around my personal 15″ rMBP in addition to the work-supplied SP3 because I often find myself in need of more power. But then again, my typical browsing habits involve hundreds of tabs.

Don’t get me wrong, the SP3 is a nice piece of hardware. The touch screen comes in handy, it’s somewhat more portable than an 11″ MBA, and it has a much better screen. But it’s still slow.

And worse yet, it runs Windows (I use Linux/Win8/OSX on a daily basis, and I struggle to find good things to say about Windows. 8.1 fixed a lot of stupid UX issues, but it’s still buggy).

Don’t worry they will throw in a Samsug Galaxy Too…how many comments to simply unsubstantiated, incoherent and mostly nonsense made up rumor…. Yes they are ditching lighting with a new spring iPhone 6s and iPad Air 2s in favor of USB C… And Thunderbolt will go the way of FireWire did as soon as USB 2 was out… Nowhere.

All the electrical engineers around knows that being backwards compatible bring many compromises… Something than in the Windows and PC world everyone is afraid to break from.

On the other hand, you have Apple, that has had the guts to break backs compatibility almost almost step of the way… It did it:
a) When moving from a PowerPC architecture to Intel.
b) When moving from OS9 to OS X.
c) When they dropped all together support of 32bits architecture in favor of a full native implementation of a 64bit OS.
d) When revising Works to Addapt it to Work for iOS and OSX, f) When it dropped FireWire and DVI in favor of Thunderbolt
g) When it abandoned the SATA HD interface for PCIe in MacBook, MacPro for SSD… And soon in iMac…

Do you think they are going to adopt a its main interface an “standard” with compromises due to backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 with or without Jobs. Let me LOL :-) a little…

Yea, it makes very little sense for Apple to invest a lot of time and money into Thunderbolt 2 and MagSafe 2 and then drop it on the MacBook Air 12″. The USB protocol does in no way replace Thunderbolt (regardless of the connector) and the Type C plug does not have the magnetic connector of the MagSafe, so it does not replace that either.

Yes, it’s going to have a USB Type C port, but it’s likely going to be on the right side of the machine, with one MagSafe and Thunderbolt 2 port on the left side. If they can squeeze in another Type C on the left, it’s going to have that as well.

It’s quite unlikely that they will ditch the Thunderbolt in the Pro lineup. Whether it be 13″ or 15″. The difference between the Thunderbolt throughput and the USB one is gonna be a considerable one. The peripheral makers are gonna have to roll out their thunderbolt compatible devices in much greater quantities. They just haven’t embraced the technology. I don’t understand. It’s a well established open standard IO technology although it hasn’t gained a whole lot traction. Storage drive makers have somewhat done some products around it. I wish they could do more. Not a lot of PC makers support thunderbolt into their laptop and desktop products. This thing majorly attributes to thunderbolt being placed in a niche category as far as IO technologies go.

Once Apple starts ditching a technology on one platform, essentially they’ve called it dead. Third parties stop supporting it, etc. I’ve watched Apple for many years (and was an engineer there for more than 5).

I wish they would just leave this stuff alone. currently on my mba, I have a usb 3.0 hub plugged in to the usb port I have my dongle for a logitech cordless mouse, an iPhone and a 3.0 usb 64 gb flash drive. all this stuff cost money and will be obsolete. I have lots of DVD’s, TV shows I recorded, all my sons football games, music mp3 files collected over the years. I never have riped DVDs of movies but I bet lots of people did. I am not going to put all my data in the cloud. for the ultimate portability I have an iPad. its rude that a guy who uses a wired mouse gets abused on here. everyone has their own way of doing things that is not necessarily best practice. i’ll give you an example of how stuff becomes obsolete to fast. at the holiday inn in laramie wyoming they have in all the rooms a alarm clock radio that will charge an iPhone or an iPad if it has a 30 pin connection. holiday inn spent good money to provide what they thought would be a selling point. I bet they never do something like that again. as the vast majority of iPad and iPhone users use lightening. I have 3 lightening to 30 pin connectors at $30 each. i keep hearing hearing yeah its going be better I don’t want better I want convenient I have 4 external hard drives 1 usb 2.0 2 usb 3.0 and one fire wire 800. I have a thunderbolt 27 inch external monitor with 4 usb 2.0 ports. for me its not about the money as much as it is having to think thru and hardware addition. good luck selling this to the education world or corporate world

What’s the real problem? Your USB stuff will be compatible via a hub. If it doesn’t include thunderbolt, and apple doesn’t have any sort of thunderbolt adapter, I bet someone else will make one. I don’t think Apple would abandon the current 27″ ACD users.

Not to mention your current computer is not going to just stop working.

This technology is far superior. If Apple doesn’t innovate, they’ll lose business to companies that do.

1. A headphone jack is necessary for connecting to most external A/V equipment. And, no, most people don’t use wireless headphones.
2. Yes, for USB devices. You may have heard of them.
3. No, induction charging is not yet ready for this level of hardware. Besides, you’d still have to carry some kind of power adapter even if it were.
4. Totally agree with you on the buttons, though.

i don’t use wireless headphones. i use the earpods that shipped with my iphone. lots of people dont use wireless headphones. i do use usb ports all the time, for charging or syncing my iphone, connecting an older wireless usb mouse that i have, plugging in my time machine hard drive, and other stuff.

WTF? Trolling or what? Name one single pair of HIGHLY REGARDED quality headphones that are wireless. ONE. I have a collection of $4000+ in headphones ranging $1000 ~ $300 ea. and not a one is wireless nor have I seen a review of a wireless pair that features quality sound or anything else aside from “oh, it has no wire”.

I find wireless headphones to be a real pain because they all have limited battery capacity – it’s too easy to forget to charge them and when they run down you’re stuck. Wired for me (and for most people I think).

About the arrows – the arrow keys are currently all the same size. Either full size, or half size. In this rendition, the left/right are full size, while up/down are half size. I think it’s more ergonomic for all of them to be the same size, than to fill up the entire space there.

Would be interesting to see how they handle the issue of using the (only) USB port for power… if the charger doubles as a hub with a few ports that would be pretty good (though gotta wonder what that’s going to do to the cost of having a bunch of chargers lying around! I’m still rocking both Magsafe and v2 chargers and adapters all over the house!)

My Surface3 Pro has a USB port on the charger, but that appears to be for charging only, not an active connection (though I’m curious to go check that out now, as the power is supplied via the same connector that plugs the Surface into the dock)

The whole concept will need a well thought out power adapter/hub and I’m sure Apple has thought of that. Meanwhile, yes, I too have multiple magsafe adapters – no doubt there will be a magsafe-to-USB-C adapter plug as there is for the last magsafe update.

Respectfully disagreeing. The only Macbook Pro that matters is the top end 15″ with dedicated graphics card – as a video editor having CUDA or OpenCL acceleration is essential for video editing. I can apply around 3-4 effects on a clip in Premiere Pro and then have realtime playback at full resolution and full quality. You can’t do that on an Air.

Your videos must be pretty amateur if you are relying on a max of 8 gigs RAM and that awful color gamut of the macbook air. Also, rarely is anyone doing professional 3D work using a mac in the first place.

I recently bought a MBP, really wanted a MBA to begin with, tried to convince myself that was the way to go, but everything suggested otherwise. When you factor in the cost of additional Ram and an adapter for HDMI output, more reasonable flash drive storage option etc the jump to a matched and better specced MBP with a retina display is so small that its hard to say otherwise. The only advantage you are getting is a slightly more portable model, and the difference there is actually hardly significant. The only reason left to consider a MBA was if I was someone who preferred aesthetics over practicality. The lower end Air’s are fine, if all they are is a spare laptop, for casual use and travel. But if you were serious about video editing or photo editing on it then the MBP picks itself.

If these changes to the Air make the range come down in price a little, it may sit in a better, more justifiable place.

At first look, the new MacBook might seem like a too big change to be true, but if you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense. The important thing to keep in mind here is that this MacBook is not going to be a direct replacement for any of the current MacBooks. This product is going to represent a completely new category for Apple computers – a hybrid between MacBook and iPad. An improved version of 64-bit A-series processor (like the ones we currently have inside iOS devices), amazing battery life and portability, gorgeous display, great physical keyboard and OS X inside will make this computer a dream for the users who have been trying to replace their main computers with the iPad.

No. It isn’t going to happen, not anytime soon, because Intel keeps improving with an extremely competitive roadmap and a fabrication process advantage that no-one has been able to match for years (decades…?).

Apple is good, I’ll give you that, but they’re not Intel-good. No-one is. Not even in high-power mobile. Low power, perhaps…but Intel is even competitive there, where they were a heaping pile of trash a couple years ago. They caught up, and fast.

Brian - 3 years ago

LOL, both of Apple’s OSes are _extremely_ portable. There is simply no way they haven’t had skunkworks for this for years already. Apple can and will switch processors when the time is right, as they have already done twice before. Microsoft will be stuck on 8086 chip derivations forever.

The only thing it would ‘lack’ is ability to run Windows. It would also push any laggard devs into Swift (if they are too dumb not to have already started using it).

Having a high performance, price competitive lappy that merely can’t run windoze would be the PERFECT product for Apple and would amount to the ‘other shoe dropping’ on the Windows monopoly.

OS “portability” has nothing to do with it. Windows 8.1 runs surprisingly well on Bay-trail SoCs with 1GB of system RAM. I doubt OSX would be able to do that. MS isn’t “stuck” on anything – Intel’s mobile SoCs have been competitive since late 2013 (also, note: they haven’t seen a refresh until this CES).

x86, ARM, doesn’t really matter at all. Intel’s latest chips are just as power-efficient as their ARM competitors, and can be more powerful as well. I can’t wait for Cherry Trail, we might see performance significantly besting A8X and Nvidia’s K1.

If I had the ability to run desktop-grade software in a mobile device (realistically, 90% of iPad apps don’t compare with their professional-level desktop counterparts – if you include gaming, desktop handedly takes the cake), I’d easily take that over iOS – especially since ConsoleOS is creating a native x86 version of Android with direct access to the Google Play Store and dual-booting with Windows 8 (yes, with Secure Boot enabled).

For me, there’s literally no reason to choose ARM at this stage other than the fact that Intel chips aren’t available in many hardware designs – yet.

Firstly, speed is not the main feature of MaBook Air, it is an affordable small computer for general population. It’s mainly for browsing, mail, video playback[1] and other relatively light tasks.

But let’s talk about raw speed. Already today iPad Air 2 compares very well against the latest MacBook Air in Geekbench[2]. In single core tasks MacBook is on average 26% faster. In multi core tasks iPad wins slightly, with help from an additional core. I am sure Apple could add a core and still fit it in the new MBA chassis, clock it a bit higher or both. They also control the core design, which will likely give speed benefits in the coming years.

Could Apple think of replacing a $315 chip[3] with a $30 chip[4], which performs almost equally?

I bet they could. In addition to the cost benefit on one model Apple would gain leverage against Intel regarding component prices thru whole mobile/compact Mac lineup. Apple would also be in control of the whole package. If they need some additional functionality (e.g. codecs), they’d just add it on their own SoC. If Apple wants a certain release date for MBA, they could do it and not wait for Intel. Similar model has worked without a hitch with iOS devices and Apple custom SoCs.

Switch to ARM may happen or not, but it is definitely not about speed or claimed superiority of Intel but about price and control. It’s not about today but a long term play. My bet would be on the switch happening in the next 3 years.

Replacing the various types of ports with a generic one that can handle anything – including power – is a very Apple-like move, and I can totally see them doing that. But: if there’s only one of them, you won’t be able to have any peripherals plugged in unless you run off of battery power, which (if true) is kind of lame…you couldn’t even use an external display with it then. Looks awesome otherwise, though.

Secondary display possible with AirPlay and Apple TV. Of course you’ll need an Apple TV but can’t blame them for trying to help push their other wares.

But this is what Apple does. They push people into new workflows even if they don’t want to, then a few months/years go by and suddenly you realize how little you used certain ports. The same happened when the original Air debuted sans optical drive. After a while you realized how little you used discs until you just stopped using them at all.

Anyone remember when Apple dropped 3.25″ floppy disks?! They were still in heavy use but Apple dropped the format for CD-RW drives.

This is Apple being Apple and ONLY Apple has the balls to do something this bold. And just like the past others will eventually follow.

Bingo – I share these thoughts – Apple has been priming the pump – my guess is if you don’t want files in the cloud, u keep em on your iPhone & use AirDrop – this would be Apple being Apple – just like the Apple Watch needs an iPhone!

I like this move, it’s more differentiation between the notebook lines. This is meant for REALLY light use. its light and thin like an iPad, but for people who prefer a laptop form factor. Yea, one port might turn a few people away. But I kinda like how this is just a really simple laptop. I hope that it isn’t any more than $999, but who knows.

Yeah, since the MBA already starts around $800 for refurb or educational. (Albeit the entry level model, the upsell isn’t that much. MBP costs far more.

People think PC is cheaper, it’s not. If you buy a PC with ‘comparable’ chip (no where near comparable OS, BTW) you end up paying almost just as much (sometimes even more, which is bizarre) and your ‘reward’ is you can only run 1 of the 2 major OSes…

come to think of it the only port I use on my retina MacBook Pro is USB and the headphone jack. Well, and power. I guess if this is actually using USB-C to power the laptop then the power adapter plug itself will extend the USB port.

All the other ports on my laptop – never use them. They’re wasting space and money.

Looks awesome – been waiting for this for years. I predict 3 type-c ports though – more ports on the power cable end may help but that’s gonna get messy fast and no one wants to carry a hub round, however small it is.

Looks great for me, but I won’t buy it, I’m not the market for MBA which made me think why people getting angry with this one USB type C port. This is not even released yet, nothing is final, and more importantly, if you need more ports, then you’re clearly not the market for this device. I think it’s more targeted for iPad users who can’t live without desktop app, so instead of carrying 2 devices, you can buy this one to do your job, similar to Microsoft Surface 3.

Giving up the magnetic Mag Safe functionality would be a step backwards. Figure out how to make a magnetic Thunderbolt cable. Make the trackpad a Touch ID sensor. and incorporated the form factor design language of the iPad Air into the unibody design of the new Macs, with seamless soft rounded edges.

They won’t love it when it costs $999. This is not a Chromebook competitor. Awesome laptop, though.

Brian - 3 years ago

I just don’t think there is any way they will not put an A8X into this (or next gen A chip). This would be the other shoe dropping on the Wintel market. The software is already there. The development tools are already there. Mac laptops area already taking 90+% of the market for high end laptops! This would take the wind out of the race to the bottom that all the cloner-assemblers churn out, cookie-cutter style, appealing strictly on (often dubious) benchmarks and specs.

Just what I was thinking. I’ll bet Apple brings out a line of updated displays. I also like the idea of the brick doubling as a hub too for when you are out on the road. I also think the cable that runs to the power outlet should definitely be MagSafe so there is no pressure on the TypeC port should someone trip on that cable. Am I the only person noticing the new silhouette resembles an iPad? What if we finally get that rumored dual-bootable device (iOS/OSX) some of us have been asking for? What if that screen pops right off and switches to iOS automatically but with a pro level iOS instead of the usual we see every year? That would converge the iPad Pro rumors with the new MacBook Air rumors. I’d throw money at that.

Someone could build a power brick with a hub at the connetcor end, where the hub can be kept in the MacBook even when you unplug the power cable. Speaking of magsafe you could have the “mag” part at the brick end, or a “two stages” connector that splits and keeps one half in the MacBook and the other gets mag-connected.

Also I think it’s a very good idea to be able to connect your MBA to a display with a single cable, thus obtaining power, usb ports, speakers, a display and wired keyboard and mouse from the external display.

The problem with the disease of less USB ports (I”m already fscking DYING with the rubbish 2 on my 15″ MBP) is that USB is a shit technology and there is no company that makes a dependable USB hub on the planet earth. I’ve tried many. EXPENSIVE ONES. They all have a serious problem with one thing or another. If they don’t cause your 3 external harddrives to start acting weird in a very subtle way due to insufficient voltage or overload of data or something else, you’ll find your headset you use for work conference calls won’t work, or something else needs plugged directly into the machine itself and not the hub before it will work. I’ve experienced this same nightmare in 100 combinations, — let’s all hope and pray Apple is not so f stupid they don’t know this.

USB is a shitty standard because it is (it was?) designed to be cheap. Chinese manufacturers didn’t want the added cost of managing a proper interface like firewire and its cables back in the days, USB cables were cheaper, and USB chipsets were cheaper because it relies heavily on the CPU. It also didn’t have a real spec for power supply so you could find ports with low current or unstable voltage. Let’s hope USB-C is a step in the right direction…

1. Thinner than the current MacBook Air? What for? The Air 11-inch was already bordering on too light to use in your lap. It’s pointless to make thinner. Guess they’ll make it more slippery too so it can slide off your lap and hit the floor.
2. ONLY ONE USB port? That’s ridiculously stupid. Hmm, charge my computer or plug in my external SSD Hmm… hard choice.
3. Changing the keyboard? WTF? I think any change to the keyboard, except making it more responsive, is a mistake.
4. No fan? Another great move. The Air was never too warm for my lap or palms. Without a fan and adding a retina screen – is this going to make it hotter?
5. A clickless trackpad… brilliant.
6. A 12-inch screen – also brilliant. I’m praying they have a 14-inch screen too with more ports, better battery life, etc.

Maybe a stupid idea but what if the new MacBook Air uses a Lightning connector for charging? With iOS and OS X being more and more integrated I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple wanted to move the two platforms even closer together.

Speaking of which, my guess is by next year iOS 10 and OS X will be fully integrated and renamed Apple OS. 😉

No SD card slot and only one USB plug that is used for charging as well? No thank you. I was really looking forward to this device, but not like this.
Hell yeah for USB Type-C though, that is much needed.

This really bums me out. I need a new Mac to replace by current Air. But I don’t want a cramped keyboard. I want to be able to plug something into it while it’s being charged, and I want the SD card reader. Currently mine is occupied with a Jet Drive on which I keep files from Google Drive and Dropbox, which are used for work. I hope the screen is no smaller than the current larger MacBook Air. That 11 inch model is just too small.

The form factor is smart. Smaller than a sheet of paper (USL or A4). 1-inch (sic) narrower body but exactly the same screen width as the 11-inch MBA (which I have owned now for 3 years and I love). And the full inch of extra screen height (with almost no increase in the body dimension) is very welcome because the menu bar, dock and application toolbars all consume vertical space – so a widescreen format makes things very cramped in the vertical direction. Smart, logical move to stretch the screen vertically.

Some of the math does not add up. I’m reading this article on my existing mac-air 11″. Looking down at my keyboard there is easily more than 1/2″ of space on either side of the keyboard. You could cut the width on this by 1/2″ to maybe even 3/4″ and still fit the existing keyboard without the need to make the keys closer together.

Looking at my screen, there is almost an INCH of space on all sides of the 11″ display. You could seemingly increase the size of the display by an inch or more within the 11″ mac frame.

I am excited about this new 12-inch mac-air. I’ve been waiting for one for a LONG TIME and will be the first buyer…

I take a bet: Apple will introduce this new MBA with its obvious counterpart: A NEW APPLE DISPLAY (at last!). USB-C on the MB side, Ethernet-USB-Thunderbolt and others hub on the desk side. Maybe 32″, maybe 5k, maybe 1499 USD.

Three small design changes driven by my OCD and I’d be over the moon happy:

1. The speaker grills should be combined and run all the way from the left side of the hinge to the right, without rounded corners, and centered in the depth.
2. The power button should be the same size as the rest of the function buttons, then a slightly bigger metal gap, followed by the hardware settings (brightness and backlit keys), followed by software functions, followed by media functions (prev, play/pause, next, mute, volume down and volume up), followed by a slightly larger metal gap, followed by an instant sleep/wake button.
3. Esc should move where the tilde is, next to 1, as a full size button. Tilde can be a key combination, as it is only used often by a small percentage.

I’ve never had that happen before…and I’ve said some inflammatory things (Generally directed at HerbTroll so no one minded I’m sure).

I make one challenging comment on the ethics of stories like this and it gets removed?! Great censorship 9to5.

I think it’s worth discussing this level of reporting. We all like news and rumors, but where is the line? I’m not saying I can define that line, but there reaches a level of reporting and digging that approaches unethical. 9to5 and Mark’s complete publishing of “HealthBook” before iOS 8’s release was the other example I mentioned. Just because we are excited to find out the new MacBook doesn’t mean we support you completely outing the next new product at this level.

I received a few likes before my comment was deleted. I’m not the only one questioning this.
Rabble rabble.

USB 1 – Keyboard and Mouse
USB 2 – Network Adaptor (W-LAN is not allowed in most of the companies)
MAGSAFE – always full power when I have to leave
Thunderbolt – for my 21:9 Widescreen where I work on (MBa is closed)

Ok, the slot for SD Card is nice to have…. not more.

But if the 12″ hasn´t that connectors it is senseless for business use.
How to use it with a beamer?
How to connect LAN
Keyboard, Mouse, external Monitor?

Sorry Apple, to be small is not enough – it needs also function before design :-)

Surely this isn’t legit. How can Apple make a computer without regular USB ports? Are they serious? I was waiting on purchasing a new Mac because I wanted to see what the 12″ turned out to be. If this is it, I’m not even going to bother. Why would I want to carry a USB hub around?

Mag safe has saved me countless times because I live with a bunch of overactive kids and a dog and who trips on my wire constantly so I hope they somehow incorporate something similar to that lone USB-C type connection. Though I suspect that Magsafe will still occupy the other side. Also I hope they are also working on making the Air’s power brick smaller and lighter not just the machine itself.

Look, I know it’s just grammar but “fewest amount of ports” is so wrong. I pointed this out in an earlier comment and it was deleted. That was the fewest amount of feedback I’d ever given. I’ll try to me more better.

I look forward to it – been running linux on an 11″ for around 3 years now & love it. I dual boot to my micro OSX partition on rare occasions. The last 3 or so iterations of the air haven’t really incentivised me to upgrade. This looks like the ticket …. or is first gen new tech a big no no, wait until round two to get the kinks removed. In all fairness Id say at this point with Apple it will most likely going to be a solid product, they make great hardware.

Frankly I don’t like this edge-to-edge keyboard… You can comfortably grab current MBAs by their side without worrying about pressing any keys, I’am afraid with this machine this won’t be as comfortable anymore… Also, my first impression is that it’s more like a netbook than ultra-portable laptop, the sacrifice for portability is pretty huge. And I do believe that these photos are real, kinda makes sense to leak them as well in order to make us used with this seemingly crazy idea.

Let me tell you something, I do not know if they’ll put an 12″ MBA in the market (although I doubt it, as it would be more wise and marketable to reduce the 13″ to near the the form factor of the so called 11″, as the latter really measures near 12″ ) but your specs are inconsistently to the form factor you are talking… Thus it’s bull.

On the other hand if you were to say that they were to revamp the entire MBA product line, to differentiate it more from the Retina Pro 13″, then it would be more believable as the specs you give would be applicable to realistic a much smaller 11″ but not to a 13″ that can be reduced to the size of an actual 11″ MBA. The constrain of the exterior design is the screen size and not the key size or hinges in anything larger than 11.6″ and smaller than 13.3″.

For an 11″ the could, technologically wise – don’t know cost wise – scrap at least inch from every single side of the screen but that would cause a major ergonomic redesign of the keyboard and the touchpad… that’s with out taking into consideration the engineering redesign to fit the interior electronics, and it’s optimization to keep the battery life on par with the previous generation without losing to much power.

In the case of the 13″ inch scraping that 1 inch in total from both sides and 1½” in total from both the top at bottom is feasible without touching the keyboard or touchpad and would then have the size of the actual 11″, and would probably will need a retractable hinge design to keep the screen clear from being shadowed by the hands of the user… That is without considering cost and how increase the efficiency of the processing to avoid losing battery life. :-/

It looks like there would be room to put one USB-C port on each side and still have the headphone port and microphones. Otherwise using this thing would be a constant hassle of switching devices and make it too dependent on external hubs.

Three of my friends still have their Macs thanks to the magsafe power plug. Most laptop deaths seem to be due to people tripping on the trailing power cord. I cope with a single USB, although I do see it as bad design, because I always plug into a hub at home and have airport but not everyone will like this as it does make it about as useful as an iPad. The magsafe has always been a major plus point for me and will seriously affect my future decisions regarding Macs far more than the loss of a USB or thunderbolt port. That said I do know people that will be seriously put off having been sold on thunderbolt by the company that now drop it.

No …. Please don’t reposition the esc key, where the photo shows it … The editors i use for writing programs uses esc a lot …
If esc has to be re-positioned, maybe switch places with the fn key in the lower left corner ?

I don’t know about others, I don’t use the fn, or keys at the top for mission control, and showing apps/desktop … finger gestures on the trackpad is faster and more intuitive …

I’ve owned a MBA 11″ (2011) (given to my Son), a MBPR 13″ (given to my Daughter) and now another MBA 11″ (2013). I bought this last MBA as I didn’t like the size/weight of the MBPR and I wanted something to tide me over until the MBAR came out. I also own (2) 29″ Thunderbolt displays and a Belkin TB dock. So, I’ve got a bit of an investment in TB and while I have been anxiously awaiting the MBAR, I won’t jump if/until there is a solution to use my displays at full quality with the MBAR. Others seem optimistic about a USB-C-to-TB adapter, but I’m not so sure. I waited quite a while for the Belkin dock and as far as I know, it is still the only TB device that includes a pass-through that will drive a display. Yes, it is also pricey and I absolutely won’t jump until a solution is available and shipping. Based on the cost of the Belkin dock, I would expect a full-featured device to be around $300. I would prefer a simply adapter under $100. I am a Retina fan and it was disappointing to go back to a non-Retina laptop display, but the goodness of the form factor of the MBA 11″ outweighs the reduction in display quality. If I am forcibly separated from my TB investment, I will also leave Apple behind and go back to WinTel/Linux and standard technologies. TB has been a pain, but now that I have made the investment, I want to get my money’s worth. Cheers.

I suspect that this device is going to be the iPad plus or Pro. I think they’re one and the same. It’s going to be an iPad and a Mac Book Air combined. You’ll be able to either flat out remove the keyboard or fold it back and perhaps the OS will be full fledged OS X but it will be touch screen and be able to be used folded back as an iPad and be damn near as thin as an iPad Air 2 when it’s folded back. Though I think they’ll make it removable so that you can pop the screen off when you want, perhaps turning the OS mode to iOS when you do. That would really be the coolest thing they’ve done with both the MBA and iPad line in a long time.

Ok, let’s try to be good. … No ! I can’t . It’s a great idea create a 12” Mac Book Air, but the new design is one of the worst I have seen out there, the new keyboard is just.. ridiculous, delete the USB ports to leave just one type-C port it’s not an option, there are users that really need the USB and thunderbolt ports.

In my opinion this is just a great fake or a joke, the main reason to believe this is the keyboard, if you pay attention in the dimensions of the 12” Macbook the “height” is the same of a 11” Macbook Air, so to ensure the screen resolution proportions will be near to 16:10 the macbook width must be really near to the 11” macbook Air, based on this assumption the keyboard is a “giant” one, it’s out of natural proportions, for every key and in the general size.

As an avid photography always on the go I love the concept of that smaller footprint MPA . However if it doesn’t come with a SD card slot it a no go for me. My current Late 2012 MPA is still going though so I don’t have to worry for another year or so.